


Say Something

by spookyknight



Series: I Bring Life Project [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 07:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyknight/pseuds/spookyknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s a shock, to say the least. The Doctor is stunned speechless at the reality unfolding before him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say Something

**Author's Note:**

> Submission to the I Bring Life Project, prompt: speechless.

He can’t find Rose. She’s prone to wander off planetside, but her movements aboard the TARDIS are usually fairly predictable. He’s checked all the usual places: kitchen, library, pool, media room, even his room, although it’s the middle of the day - relatively speaking, on Rose-time, anyway - so he can’t think why she would be in any of the sleeping quarters. That’s probably why her bedroom is the last room he visits.

The door is ajar so the Doctor doesn’t think twice about letting himself in. Since the start of their more intimate relationship, the notion of privacy has dwindled to nearly nothing. Rose shares everything with him, or so he has every reason to believe. The door to the en suite is also open and he hears soft sounds coming from inside that sound disturbingly like crying.

He pushes the door open slowly to find her sitting on the fluffy bath mat with her back against the tub. Much to his dismay, she is crying, has been for a while by the looks of her tear stained cheeks.

“Rose?”

She doesn’t answer, just continues sobbing quietly on the floor. His first instinct is to go to her, wrap her up in his arms and squeeze until these tears are all run out. He hates to see her cry. Before he reaches her, though, his attention is diverted by a something strange on the counter.

There are five little white plastic sticks lined up in a tidy column. Early twenty-first century pregnancy tests she must have secretly purchased on on their last quick visit to her mother. Different brands display slightly different results - two lines, a plus sign, and even a digital model with a smiley face - but they all mean the same thing.

The Doctor looks from the tests to Rose and back again. What he’s seeing - this is impossible. Humans and Time Lords are not outright genetically compatible; not with a great deal of fiddling and even then, well, it’s not exactly something that has a great deal of precedent. It’s not completely definitive, not really, until he can analyze her blood, but five different brands of tests make a pretty strong case.

For one dark, fleeting moment he almost thinks that maybe she… but no. If he believes in anything, he believes in her, and there is  _no_  way Rose betrayed him with another man. And it’s been way too long since she was with Mickey, the timing negates that possibility.

It’s a shock, to say the least. The Doctor is stunned speechless at the reality unfolding before him. Being a parent was a part of life he had put behind him. He’s not sure if he’s equipped to handle this the way he needs to, the way he wants to be there for her. But for Rose, he’ll do anything.

It’s impossible and also a little bit amazing. It’s a good thing, it has to be, because the Doctor has so much love for this woman and now that’s manifest in this tiny new, still somewhat hypothetical, life. But Rose is crying, she looks devastated. Her apparent disappointment crushes him. He is not sure what to say to somehow make this right.

Rose sniffs pointedly and regards him for the first time. “Say something.”

He swallows, hard. Tries to put a coherent thought together in the whirlwind of his mind, spinning with endless possibilities.

“Why are you crying?” the Doctor asks finally. His voice is soft, tentative.

She rolls her eyes, haphazardly wiping her cheeks. “ _Really_?”

He kneels down before her, then. Takes her hands, fingers dampened with tears, into his own.

“Are you… do you not want this?”

“I didn’t think this was possible,” Rose admits, her voice still shaky. Then, a little more accusingly, she adds, “You said it wasn’t possible.”

“It isn’t,” he answers automatically. She gives him  _a look_  and he amends, “It shouldn’t be.”

“You’re gonna send me home?” Rose chokes out, assuming the worst.

“No!’ the Doctor replies emphatically. He pulls her into a hug, the angle awkward with her knees in the way. “I would never. Unless…” He jumps back to study her face. “Do you want to go home?”

“No,” she confirms quietly.

He nods, sighing out a breath of relief. He clumsily scoots over in the small space to sit next to her, gathering her up in his arms as he feels he should have done when he first entered the bathroom.

Rose fits her head beneath his chin, snuggling up under his shoulder. “I’m scared.”

“I know.”

She smiles vaguely. “Less scared now, though.”

“Good,” he says, pressing a kiss into her hair. “This… this is good, Rose. Life is always good.”

“Yeah?” she ventures tentatively.

“Yes,” the Doctor remarks assuredly. He takes a deep breath, gathering courage for the most important question, the one whose answer holds so much hope and fear in his hearts. “But are you unhappy?”

“I’m just shocked,” she admits. Then she pokes him in the chest. “You said this wouldn’t happen.” She feels the need to remind him again.

“I know. I never thought it could. I’m sorry.”

“Are you, though?”

“Yes. Wait, am I what?”

“Sorry.”

“Oh,” he realizes, catching on to her meaning. “That depends on you, really. Are you okay with this? With… me? And our maybe baby?”

Rose pulls a face. “Maybe baby?”

“ _Well_ , twenty-first century hormone detection tests aren’t exactly the end-all-be-all of conclusive results.”

“I took  _five_.”

“You’ll take another,” he concludes firmly but kindly. “I’ll test your blood to be sure. When you’re ready. And if it’s a positive result, are you… is that okay?”

“I’ve gotten pretty used to the idea, now,” she says with a shrug. Then Rose looks down, and suddenly the tiled floor seems to be the most interesting thing in the world. “But… Doctor, I need to know. Am I gonna be okay? And the baby, will it - I mean, he or she - be okay? And… I mean, I can still stay here with you, right? We can be together?”

The Doctor finds her chin gently with his hand and tilts her head up to look at him. “I think so, we’ll find out, and yes, definitely yes,” he replies, checking down the list of her questions in order. “Always.”

“Forever,” she supplies helpfully.

He grins, a big toothy thing full of excitement and hope, then leans down, closing the distance between them with a chaste kiss.

“I’m sorry,” Rose whispers, and he pulls away to give her a questioning look. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, I was just so afraid… and you came in and saw and you didn’t say anything.”

“It’s alright,” he breathes against her lips, chancing another brief kiss because the contact is soothing, grounding amid the flurry of questions running through his brain. “You were in shock and then I was in shock. But Rose, I’m right here with you. I’ll find out everything I can to make sure you’re both safe. And we’ll see this through. Together.”

Then Rose smiles, a true, brilliant Rose Tyler smile, and the Doctor knows this impossibly unexpected development is going to be fantastic. In his long succession of lives, he has known both love and loss, and will surely revisit both again and again.

Today, he has that smile to carry him through whatever tomorrow may bring. And maybe, just maybe, it will bring a miraculous gift he never thought possible. He will protect these precious things, cherish them for as long as they are his to keep.

She reaches up for another kiss, whispers the promise back to him.

“Together.”


End file.
